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Consultation on the Assessment of
Practical Work in GCSE Science
covering: Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Combined science
December 2014
Ofqual/14/5568
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 2
Contents
Foreword ..................................................................................................................... 3
Executive summary ..................................................................................................... 5
1. Background ............................................................................................................. 6
2. Possible approaches ............................................................................................. 10
3. Our proposals ........................................................................................................ 22
4. Equality analysis .................................................................................................... 27
5. Responding to the consultation ............................................................................. 29
Questions .................................................................................................................. 32
Accessibility of our consultations ............................................................................... 44
Appendix 1: Ofqual’s role, objectives and duties ....................................................... 47
Appendix 2: GCSE Science, Additional Science and Single Sciences mark
distributions s2014 .................................................................................................... 50
Appendix 3: Entry information for GCSE sciences 2014 ........................................... 65
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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Foreword
We are pleased to present our second consultation on reforms to GCSE sciences1 in
England.
Last year we suggested that students’ practical science work should be assessed by
non-exam assessment, counting for ten per cent of the marks. People who
responded to our consultation had mixed views about that, and we have been
discussing fresh options with teachers, subject associations and others.
We want a good educational experience and good educational outcomes for
students, as well as results we can all trust. Above all, we want science GCSEs that
encourage a wide range of practical science teaching over the period of study, so
that students’ experience of practical science work is positive, and beneficial.
Scientists agree that practical work is central to good school science and that science
GCSEs should require it. The problem is how to make sure students get sufficient
and stimulating experience of it, and then how best to assess it when so much rides
on results, for students and for schools.
It has long been recognised that assessment drives teaching and learning,2 but
assessment has led to a narrowing of the curriculum. It is important to have reliable
assessment in a high-stakes environment. We do not have the evidence that
practical science work can be assessed reliably enough by marked non-exam
assessment, particularly if marks for direct assessment of practical skills3 are
included in grades, given other pressures on schools.
We think the proposals we are making are more likely than any others to encourage
breadth and variety in practical work, and enable teachers to integrate practical work
into their teaching so as to deliver a good educational experience for students, as
well as results we can all trust.
We are open to other suggestions, and to any ideas for trialling new ways to improve
controls over teacher-assessed student work. This will be an open and fully
consultative process. We welcome your views and suggestions, and look forward to
hearing from you.
1 GCSE sciences includes biology, chemistry, physics and combined science.
2 J.F. Donnelly, A.S. Buchan, E.W. Jenkins, P.M. Laws and A.G. Welford (1996) Investigations by
Order: Policy, Curriculum and Science Teachers’ work under the Education Reform Act. Nafferton: Studies in Education. A. Pollard, P. Triggs, P. Broadfoot, E. McNess and M Osborn (2000): What Pupils Say: Changing Policy and Practice in Primary Education. London: Continuum. 3 Here, and throughout, we use the term ‘practical work’ to refer to such teaching in a broad sense and
the term ‘practical skills’ to refer to the specific technical and manipulative abilities that it
encompasses.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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Glenys Stacey Amanda Spielman
Chief Regulator Chair
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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Executive summary
In summer 2018, students in England will take new GCSEs in biology, chemistry,
physics and combined science (science GCSEs).4 These will be based on new
subject content and requirements for ‘working scientifically’ that emphasise students’
understanding of scientific experiments and their ability to conduct them.
We need to determine how students will be assessed. Our aim is to ensure the best
educational outcomes, and valid, reliable assessments that must be manageable for
schools. This consultation seeks views on our proposals for students’ practical
science experience to be assessed by exam and confirmed through a school and
student record. In summary, our main proposals are as follows.
Written exams would include questions that draw on students’ practical science
experience. At least 15 per cent of marks for each GCSE would be allocated to
these. The questions would be designed to give students with practical
experience a real advantage over those without.
GCSE specifications would set out the apparatus students should use and the
techniques they should develop, together with a minimum of eight practical
activities (16 for combined science) they should do during the course using the
specified apparatus and techniques.
Students would each keep a record of their practical work, to be made available
to their exam board on request. This student record could be a laboratory
notebook (we welcome views and suggestions).
Schools would then confirm to their exam board that each student has
completed the practical activities and so has used the required apparatus and
developed the required techniques. This submission of the school record would
be a pre-requisite ahead of exams.
We believe this approach addresses many of the current problems. It should broaden
the range of practical work in science GCSEs and enable students to develop good
hands-on skills. There are implementation questions to consider with schools and
exam boards – for example, what happens should students not complete the
required practical work, and what monitoring should exam boards do? We will want
fair and practical arrangements for such matters, but we are not dealing with that
detail here. Instead, we set out the rationale for our main proposals and the
alternatives we have considered.
We welcome views on our proposals. We also welcome suggestions for alternative
proposals and how they can better address the aims, as set out in the consultation
document, such as whether they will encourage a wide range of practical teaching.
4 The new GCSEs in biology, chemistry and physics will be single awards; GCSE in combined science
will be a double award.
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We look forward to receiving your views.
How to respond
The closing date for responses to this consultation is 4th February 2015. You
can respond to this consultation in one of the following ways:
Complete the online response at:
http://surveys.ofqual.gov.uk/s3/theassessment-of-practical-work-in-gcse-
science
Email your response to [email protected]
Please include the consultation title (GCSE practical science consultation) in
the subject line of the email and make clear who you are and in what capacity
you are responding.
Post your response to: GCSE practical science consultation, Ofqual, Spring
Place, Herald Avenue, Coventry, CV5 6UB.
Evaluating the responses
To evaluate responses properly, we need to know who is responding to the
consultation and in what capacity. We will only consider your response if you
complete the information page.
Any personal data (such as your name, address and any other identifying
information) will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and
our standard terms and conditions.
We will publish the evaluation of responses. Please note that we may publish all or
part of your response unless you tell us (in your answer to the confidentiality
question) that you want us to treat your response as confidential. If you tell us you
wish your response to be treated as confidential, we will not include your details in
any published list of respondents, although we may quote from your response
anonymously.
1. Background
Curriculum, assessment and accountability tensions
A recent review5 of some other countries’6 practical science assessments found that
some countries that count as high-performing make use of a substantial proportion of
5 Ian Abrahams, Michael J. Reiss & Rachael M Sharpe (2013): The assessment of practical work in
school science, Studies in Science Education, 49:2, 209-251, DOI:10.1080/03057267.2-13,858496
6 China, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, France and Scotland
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direct assessment of practical skills, compared to countries such as Australia,
England and Scotland where we rely more on indirect assessment. It also noted that
countries differ greatly, and vary over time, in the importance they attach to school
accountability, teacher autonomy and the utility of regular summative assessment
and reporting of student attainment (results).
There is an established expectation that GCSEs will provide remarkably reliable
results, to inform selection decisions. For that, they must be resilient, able to
withstand accountability pressures. Indeed, the newly stated purposes of GCSEs7
include that they provide a basis upon which schools will be held accountable for the
performance of all their pupils. That heightens the natural tension between the
curriculum aims, reliability expectations, and the need for resilient assessments – a
tension noticeably more apparent here than in other countries with less demanding
accountability arrangements.
There is a variety of practice around the world. For example, Singapore O levels use
a teacher-marked practical exam. Cambridge International O levels use a board set
and marked practical exam. In the Netherlands schools have much more freedom in
the way that they test practical and investigative skills. So do teachers in Finland, but
the Finnish Matriculation Examination includes no practical element. Good
qualifications strike a sensible balance between curriculum aims, assessment and
accountability, recognising that curriculum matters most, and that not everything that
is taught in a good curriculum need be formally assessed. Some things of value are
impossible to assess, or to assess validly given our accountability pressures. This is
especially so for practical skills in any subject. They are the first to suffer when the
tensions become too great.
For new high-stakes qualifications that include practical work, we have prioritised
curriculum aims and then the need for reliable assessment, if necessary by
protecting practical work from the pressures of accountability. So, for example,
geographers agree that fieldwork is an essential part of GCSE geography,8 disagree
about whether it can be assessed sufficiently reliably by non-exam assessment, but
agree that some of the skills can be assessed by exam.9 The new GCSE includes
fieldwork, with fieldwork-related knowledge and skills assessed by exam, rather than
non-exam assessment. Schools will be required to include fieldwork as a compulsory
part of their courses, to protect curriculum aims.
Our proposals for science GCSEs are similar, and seek to strike the same balance so
as to increase the prospect of students studying the full curriculum and enjoying
stimulating and varied practical skills work as they study.
The importance of practical science work
There is a unanimous view in the science community that practical work is a vital part
of good science education. In 2011 the House of Commons Science and Technology
7 Letter from the Secretary of State to Ofqual, 6th February 2013
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278308/sos_ofqual_letter_060213.p df
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Committee reported that in its view practical work, including fieldwork is a vital part of
science education.10 The Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (April 2013)11
said that:
Experiments are the essence of science, and studying science without
practical experimental work is like studying literature without reading
books. Practical work develops technical and scientific skills, and improves
scientific understanding.
The science teaching profession generally agrees that the main purpose of practical
work is formative,12 enabling students to learn to understand science, and how
scientific ideas are developed. Teachers commonly state the purposes of practical
work as including motivation for students, the excitement of discovery, consolidation
of theory, development of manipulative skills, knowledge of standard techniques,
8 Review of Controlled Assessment in GCSEs, June 2013 Ofqual/13/5291
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/377903/2013-06-11-review-
ofcontrolled-assessment-in-GCSEs.pdf
9 Responses to Ofqual consultation GCSE Reform 2013 including the response from the Royal
Geographical Society (with IBG) www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/ED45F16A-85E0-4981-
9322DD59CFB9646A/0/RGSIBGgcsereformconsultationsjune2013.pdf 10
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmsctech/1060/106005.htm#a2
11
Policy Note: Assessment of Practical Work in Science - April 2013
www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Practical%20Science%20Policy%20Note.ashx 12
Where assessment is formative the feedback students are given helps them to further their learning,
as opposed to an assessment that is a formal judgement of their achievement which would be
summative.
general understanding of data handling, development of other skills (e.g. analytic,
evaluative, planning, applied, mathematical) and developing an understanding of how
science works (e.g. concepts of scientific process, collaborative working,
reproducible results, fair testing).8
Teachers also generally agree that isolated practical tasks of the type carried out for
assessment purposes at GCSE do not enable students to find out how scientific
enquiry really works. The summative non-exam assessment that is prevalent now
(Controlled Assessment) does not support the aims of practical science. In short,
practical work is essential but as summative assessment drives what is taught,9 the
8 (January 2013) The Assessment of Practical Science: a literature review Andrew Watt, Cambridge
Assessment.
9 I. Abrahams, M.J. Reiss and R.M. Sharpe (2013) “The assessment of practical work in school
science”, Studies in Science Education, vol.49 no.2, pp.209−51.
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way it is summatively assessed at the moment is reducing its formative impact
significantly.
Practical science assessment now
There is a universal view that current practical assessments are not working. A joint
policy note published by the Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust 10 included
the following:
The current norm at GCSE is ‘controlled assessment’, whereby, in
science, candidates have to carry out one or two investigations from a
small number set by the Awarding Organisation under highly controlled
conditions. There is universal agreement among those we consulted that
this assessment method is deeply flawed. It makes teachers focus on a
narrow range of externally-set practicals as they hone students to do well
in what constitutes 25% of their final grade. Students are internally
assessed on their planning and analytical abilities (not on their technical
skills) by their teachers who, under our high stakes system, are under
enormous pressure to give students maximum marks.
Controlled assessment replaced coursework in recent years. Coursework suffered
from the same problems as those identified in the quote above, and it was thought
that controlled assessment would be more effective. It is not. In response to our last
consultation, the Centre for Innovation and Research in Science Education at the
University of York stated “there is not currently a satisfactory method for schoolbased
assessment of practical work” and “the current Controlled Assessment tasks which
replaced [the previous coursework model] have not improved matters, and in many
respects have made them worse”.
The ‘59 club11 described the current arrangements as “time-consuming, prescriptive
and repetitive… [and they] encourage ‘teaching to the test’”. The Wellcome Trust
noted that the current system “consumes valuable teaching time and is vulnerable to
widespread malpractice”.
Like coursework, controlled assessment arrangements do not promote an extensive
and positive student experience of practical science, or produce sufficiently reliable
results. Instead, students are frequently overfamiliar with just a few experiments, and
their marks are skewed towards the top end of the mark range.
We do not believe that this situation can be resolved by making a few technical
changes to present arrangements and expecting the exam boards to control more
closely what happens in school classrooms and laboratories.
10
Policy Note: Assessment of Practical Work in Science - April 2013
www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Practical%20Science%20Policy%20Note.ashx 11
The ‘59 Club’ comprises the Heads of Science from 26 of the top independent schools in the UK.
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Requirements for practical work in new science GCSEs
The new subject content12 emphasises the practical aspects of science teaching (see
the Working Scientifically section). There is no question that students must complete
practical work. Students’ understanding of scientific experiments and their ability to
conduct them are emphasised throughout the requirements. Science GCSEs must
give students opportunities to use relevant apparatus to develop and demonstrate a
range of practical techniques.
The question, then, is how to design science GCSEs so that they meet their stated
purposes, with assessment arrangements more likely to stimulate an extensive and
positive student experience of practical science.
2. Possible approaches
There are two basic options for assessing practical work: direct assessment, or
indirect assessment.13 They can be used together, with different options for different
aspects of practical science work. Direct assessment refers to “any form of
assessment that requires students, through the manipulation of tangible objects, to
demonstrate a practical skill in a manner that can be used to determine their level of
competence in that skill. In contrast, [indirect assessment] refers to any form of
assessment in which a student’s level of competency is inferred from the data they
generate and/or reports of the practical work that they undertook.”14
Both have advantages and disadvantages. Abraham et al. recommend that if the
intention is to determine competence, then direct assessment is best, whereas if the
12
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307619/GCSE_combined_science_c
ontent.pdf
13 Either of these forms of assessment could be carried out by teachers or by exam boards. The
difference is not in who conducts the assessment, but in the form of observation and judgement they
make.
14
I. Abrahams, M.J. Reiss and R.M. Sharpe (2013) “The assessment of practical work in school
science”, Studies in Science Education, vol.49 no.2, pp.209−51.
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intention is to determine an understanding of a skill or process, then indirect
assessment would be the preferred option.
Current controlled assessments assess science practical work indirectly. They mainly
test how well students have planned a practical science investigation and analysed
the results. They only infer students’ practical skills through the results they produce.
This is indirect assessment. Students’ actual practical skills – their ability to
manipulate scientific equipment and to conduct experiments – are not directly
observed and assessed. They do not currently contribute to students’ grades.
Stakeholders have suggested a range of possibilities for assessing practical science
work, both directly and indirectly:
questions in written exams that address specified practical work;
a practical exam testing students’ technical and manipulative skills;
an extended investigation;
a portfolio of experiments, detailing methodologies, results and conclusions.
We have considered each of these, looking for the approach that can best meet the
aims to:
deliver the curriculum aims and encourage a wide range of practical science
teaching over the period of study;
be manageable for schools – taking into account the numbers of students who
take science GCSEs, the range of ability and the time typically allocated to each
subject;
provide valid and reliable assessments – test the right things and do this
accurately and consistently, so as to differentiate effectively between students’
performance;
be able to withstand accountability pressures, that is, to avoid exerting
unmanageable contradictions on teachers where they are acting as the
assessor and being judged themselves through the outcomes of the
assessments they make – the results of their students.
No one approach or combination of approaches is perfect. When it comes to the
inevitable trade-offs between these aims, we have put the curriculum aims first –
recognising and appreciating the formative value of practical science work in science
education.
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Below, we consider direct and indirect approaches to assessing practical skills,
recognising that they inter-relate and can be used in combination.
Direct assessment of practical skills
Here the teacher (or an examiner) observes and marks the student doing practical
science work, or views a recording of it. It has rarely been used in England, and
tends to result in the use of laboratory activities that can be undertaken easily in a
restricted time.15 Nevertheless, without the prospect of direct assessment it is argued
that teachers are less inclined to devote time and effort to developing students’
practical skills.16 Direct assessment is attractive because of its very nature.
China, Singapore, New Zealand and Finland – often described as high-performing
countries – all make use of a substantial proportion of direct assessment of their
students’ practical science skills at some point in their schooling system.
Arrangements differ in each country, depending no doubt on a range of factors, and
direct assessment rarely stands alone.
There are a number of considerations for us in this country, in particular the
manageability for schools, and then what would be the best monitoring and checking
arrangements, given the exceptional accountability pressures here. We consider
these below, and then go on to consider whether marks should count towards
grades,22 and whether performance should be reported separately.
Manageability issues
We have thought about how direct assessment could be made appropriately
manageable for schools, but we haven’t found an answer. Arrangements must be
manageable, and yet manageable arrangements inevitably mean that other
aspirations for practical work would be severely compromised.
Sheer numbers are a particular consideration. Class sizes are typically much larger
than for A levels, and the teaching time significantly less. Over half a million students
take science GCSEs each year and there are over one million entries in all: 130,000
for each of biology, chemistry and physics; 310,000 for additional science; and
350,000 for science. A level entry figures are much lower, at 58,000 for biology,
49,000 for chemistry and 33,500 for physics.23
Teachers would need to observe directly and carefully a sufficient amount of each
student’s practical work to judge whether or not that student had performed the wide
range of specified skills to the required standard. If students’ skills were to be
15
V.N. Lunetta, A. Hofstein, and M.P. Clough (2007) “Learning and teaching in the school science
laboratory: an analysis of research, theory, and practice”. In S.K. Abell, and N.G. Lederman (eds),
Handbook of Research on Science Education (pp.393–441). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
16
Donnelly et al. (1996), op. cit.
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assessed in more than a few practical tasks, the assessments would become
unmanageable, yet with too few tasks they would not be particularly valid.
One approach would be to notify schools of a limited set of assessment tasks a short
time before assessment. That could encourage the teaching of a wider range of
practical skills beforehand and so meet the curriculum aims. There would be some
issues (equipment supply, for example) to consider that might themselves limit the
choice of task. Moreover we fear that, given other pressures, some teachers would
be tempted to limit students’ experience to those tasks they think most likely to come
up, or might practise with students the tasks once known, rather than undertaking
stimulating practical work throughout the course. We are most struck by a comment
made to us by a teacher about summative assessment in science:
My concerns over the use of teacher-assessed components are based
on the changes to education and accountability that have happened over
recent decades. Before the introduction of league tables, teachers could
22 Currently, teachers’ marks for practical work contribute to grades through the controlled
assessments.
23
2014 GCSE, AS and A level entry data for students in England only, Joint Council for Qualifications
be expected to reliably and honestly assess their own students. Since
then, the intense pressure that schools are under to maximise students’
results has increased dramatically, and this pressure is pushed down on
to teachers by senior staff. Promotion opportunities often relate to student
performance, and now the abolition of automatic progression up the Main
Pay Scale will result in further increased pressure on teachers to inflate
the grades of their own students. I have often used the analogy that
asking teachers to assess their own students is like asking Premier
League footballers to referee their own matches. The stakes are too high
to expect them to do this honestly.
The use of visiting examiners would on the face of it reduce the loss of teaching time
to assessment, and incidentally bring independence of judgement as well. However,
millions of practical assessments would need to be conducted in a short period of
time as each student would need to be assessed across a sufficiently wide range of
practical skills and activities. Moreover, most visiting examiners would themselves be
serving science teachers, unlikely to be freed up from their day jobs in schools. We
do not think this option is deliverable.
Monitoring and checking arrangements
We can envisage the direct assessment of a limited range of practical tasks, albeit
this would be a sizeable undertaking for schools and it would come with the
drawbacks outlined above. However it does not seem to us to be a viable option
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once we consider the monitoring and checking arrangements that would be
necessary, so as to provide reliable assessments that withstand accountability
pressures.
Cluster moderation
This involves teachers observing and marking across a cluster of schools and
comparing them with each other, and with national standards, and adjusting marks
accordingly. Cluster moderation featured in the past, notably in the Certificate of
Secondary Education (CSE), when exam boards were numerous, and regional. All
schools in a geographical area entered for the same exam board, making things
easier. And at that time, accountability measures were much less pressing.
Cluster moderation could engage and develop teachers through the sharing of
standards. It would be costly, however, in both time and money. It would make
significant demands on teachers’ time, since they would not only be required to
assess their own students, but to engage in the moderation of assessment for
students of the other schools within the cluster group.
We are also aware of concerns about practicalities in rural areas and for schools
using a different exam board to others in their area, should we introduce it now.
Moreover, we question whether it is deliverable in the time available given the sheer
size of the task, and the modern-day pressures on teachers and schools.
We have looked at where and how it is done elsewhere. Cluster moderation
arrangements are used in some places including in Queensland, Australia. However,
it is students’ written work (indirect assessment) that is used for the moderation
exercises rather than visiting centres where practical science skills are being
demonstrated, in real-time, by students. The assessment seems based on the same
kind of evidence as in current GCSEs, and given the high stakes nature of the
assessment, Queensland uses an external test to support the moderation system.
Visiting moderation
An alternative approach would be for exam boards to visit schools to observe
teachers’ direct assessments. Once again, student and school numbers are the
problem, exacerbated by other school pressures. Given that visiting observers are
themselves teachers taking time away from their own schools and teaching, we don’t
see this as any more manageable, or actually deliverable. In reality, exam boards
would only be able to sample a proportion of students and schools each year.
Realistically, such an approach could only be used alongside another form of
monitoring.
Statistical moderation
This would involve using students’ exam marks to adjust, where necessary, their
teacher’s assessment of their practical skills. It takes some of the pressure off
schools, and it can be seen as even-handed as well, treating practical skills in the
same way as other achievement. We have thought about this option carefully, not
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least because it is manageable for schools. However we think that on balance, the
drawbacks outweigh the benefits.
Statistical moderation aims to match up performances from different sources or in
different areas within a subject by statistically adjusting scores in an attempt to make
them comparable. Using this method, the moderation involves adjusting the average
and the spread of teacher assessment marks of students in a given school with
reference to the exam scores of the same group of students. During the moderation
process, teacher assessment marks may be adjusted, but the rank order determined
by the school will remain unchanged. Generally speaking, the results obtained will
become the final marks of individual students in that school.17
Statistical moderation can be used to calibrate or to monitor marking.18 Calibrating
refers to the process, as described above, whereby statistical adjustments are
universally applied to teacher assessments based on the exam results. Monitoring
refers to a broader approach in the use of statistical comparisons, where statistical
moderation is used to detect comparability issues by, for example, triggering an
inspection. It may also be used for longer-term monitoring of schools or exam
boards. It is used in some countries, typically in conjunction with other forms of
moderation and generally to monitor performance rather than to calibrate it, owing to
the limitations of the evidence it generates.
For statistical moderation to act as a calibration of performance and achievement in
practical science skills it presumes that the ability being moderated is one that can be
demonstrated at a range of levels, as the purpose of moderation is to adjust marks
between and within these. It is questionable how far this would be achievable with
the technical and manipulative skills that would be directly assessed here.
From a technical perspective, the specific properties of the statistical model used
could present challenges. So for example, we know that small adjustments to the
statistical model can lead to significant differences in outcomes, and its reliability will
vary depending on the number of students in a group: the smaller the number of
students, the less reliable the process.
For this approach to be seen as fair there would need to be a strong relationship
between the assessment of practical skills and the exam. That may not always be the
case. What is more, statistical moderation could have undesirable effects on teaching
practice. There would be a clear incentive to focus on exams as the marks for these
17
See, for example, www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Media/Leaflets/HKDSE-
SBAModerationBooklet_r.pdf 18
Daley, Billington, Chamberlain, Meyer, Stringer, Taylor, Tremain: Principles of Moderation of Internal
Assessment. AQA Centre for Research and Policy;
https://cerp.aqa.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_upload/CERP-RP-AD-13102009_0.pdf
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would, ultimately, determine students’ adjusted performance in the practical
assessment.
Recording
Any recording of a student doing practical science work would need to be
audiovisual, using equipment able to capture performance accurately. This would
have significant resource implications for schools, given student numbers. It does not
seem to us to be a viable possibility.
Marks counting towards grades19
To be worthwhile, direct assessment needs to have sufficient weight, say at least 10
per cent of the available marks. If they are to count towards grades, then those
marks must be accurately and consistently given, particularly as there is no lasting
evidence to check unless the performance is recorded – otherwise the whole
assessment is insufficiently valid and reliable.
One of the challenges of teachers directly assessing their students comes from the
nature of what is being assessed. The main point of assessing practical science work
directly is to assess students’ technical and manipulative skills; their ability to use
particular equipment and to perform particular techniques.
It is possible to determine whether a student has a given skill, but much harder to
determine grades or levels of performance. These are often skills not possible to
assess on a sufficiently wide spectrum, reflecting the range of ability of all science
GCSE students. And this is what would need to be possible – on a reliable basis – to
support their inclusion in grades. SCORE has noted previously the significant
difficulties here, suggesting consideration should be given to a “model where direct
assessment is not intended to provide differentiation, but rather to check whether or
not a student is competent in a given practical skill”.
Separate reporting of directly assessed performance
If teachers’ marks for practical skills are reported separately rather than contributing
to grades, it might alleviate some of the pressures that distort assessments. It would
also allow greater transparency – students’ practical skills would be shown as
separate to, rather than being subsumed within, their subject grades. There might be
greater reliability too, depending on the grading scale used. The assessments would
need to be valid, reliable and provide effective discrimination between levels of
19
Currently, teachers’ marks for practical work contribute to grades through the controlled
assessments.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 17
performance. For example, a pass/fail decision would require a less granular
judgement than the specific mark that would be needed if the skill were to contribute
to the subject grade. It would also be more consistent with, for example, the
competencies suggested by the Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.20
This would mean each student having to be directly assessed over a minimum of,
perhaps, 45 minutes. Given the number of students who take science GCSEs, this
would mean a considerable amount of assessment time. Safety considerations are
also relevant: it would be difficult for a teacher to be simultaneously assessing each
student, in turn, while the rest of the class were working in the laboratory.
The requirements for assessment time would have a noticeable impact on teaching
time. Because much less time is allocated to teaching GCSEs than to teaching A
levels, the proportion of time diverted from teaching to assessment would be much
more for GCSEs than for A levels if the assessment requirements were consistent
across the two qualifications.
Indirect assessment of practical skills
Questions in the written exams
This has been a feature of qualifications in England and internationally for some time.
Good questions blend the theoretical and practical aspects of experimentation. So for
example, they may relate to solving a problem or be set in a context that is linked
appropriately to each part of the question. They may apply knowledge of familiar
practical techniques to unfamiliar contexts. And for this approach to work well, exam
questions must be well-designed, and not be too formulaic or predictable.
Well-designed questions are known to produce valid and reliable results. As the
ground they cover is not known beforehand, those students with sufficient breadth of
practical experience are most likely to be well prepared and to do well. This approach
could provide a strong incentive for schools and teachers to provide a breadth of
practical activities, because this would best prepare students, and performance in the
exams would determine students’ grades.
To answer such questions, students would be expected to draw on their experience
of practical work, applying what they learn from it as well as recalling the various
activities. For example, students may be asked to identify steps or to plan to identify
an unknown compound or separate a mixture; they may be called on to comment on
experimental results and design in order to evaluate the scientific methods and
measurements required to obtain reliable data. Contributing directly to students’
grades, exam questions are an attractive option supported by the science
community. Using them has been a recurring and unanimous suggestion from
stakeholders:
20
Policy Note: Assessment of Practical Work in Science April 2013; available at:
www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Practical%20Science%20Policy%20Note.ashx .
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 18
The Centre for Innovation and Research in Science Education at the University
of York indicated these questions would “encourage teachers to carry out a
wide range of practical tasks throughout the GCSE course”. They also
suggested that exam boards should agree a list of practical tasks to act as a
basis for these questions to promote comparability.
The Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust emphasised that such
questions could be “designed to assess candidates’ experimental and
investigative skills developed through their familiarity with performing, and
understanding of, certain experiments identified in the specification”. These
groups also recommended they should be weighted more heavily than the
direct assessment of practical skills that they also proposed.
SCORE suggested that questions in written exams could assess “procedural
understanding of how to plan, carry out and evaluate aspects of practical work
and analyse results … in such a way that students are likely to perform better if
they have acquired that procedural knowledge through doing practicals”.
There are some drawbacks. The vast majority, but not all, of the specified
requirements for ‘working scientifically’ in the new science GCSEs could be assessed
validly by good exam questions. The exceptions are those to:
carry out experiments appropriately having due regard to the correct
manipulation of apparatus, the accuracy of measurements and health and
safety considerations;
make and record observations and measurements using a range of apparatus
and methods.
Exam questions do not directly assess students’ ability to use scientific equipment.
Only direct assessment can do that.
A practical exam
Individual responses to our A level consultation, mainly from teachers, proposed a
practical science exam as a way of testing students’ technical and manipulative skills.
This would most likely be set by exam boards. Each student could be required, for
example, to follow instructions, manipulate equipment, perform procedures and make
observations. A student’s ability at, say, performing a procedure would be inferred
from the observations they recorded about it. The main benefit of the approach is that
it would enable students to be tested on specific, relevant practical activities, but
there are curriculum, manageability and validity issues.
The options would be restricted by necessary health and safety considerations and
also by the need to cater for schools with varying amounts of equipment. In any
event, a practical exam would only be able to sample a relatively small proportion of
the subject content. Just as controlled assessment can narrow the curriculum now,
so could this.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 19
The resource requirements would be high, and it would be likely to have a significant
impact on the availability of laboratory space for teaching – given the need for exams
to be delivered across all science subjects in each school. The students in a given
school would not usually be able to take the exam at the same time, since most
schools do not have sufficient teaching laboratory space, and that leads to another
problem: students taking the exam first would be able to spread word to other
students in their school or others, compromising the validity of results. Different tasks
could be used at different times but this brings its own manageability challenges.
Finally, mark distributions could be skewed by the nature of the tasks: students who
were not able to complete a given part of the test would automatically be unable to
access the marks for any following parts that were dependent on it. We don’t think
this option will provide sufficiently valid and reliable assessments.
On balance, then, we do not favour a practical exam.
An extended investigation
The Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have suggested that “open-ended
project work, in which candidates are able to explore a practical project of their own
devising, has great potential for developing a wide range of practical and enquiry
skills [but] is not yet a pragmatic possibility”. We agree.
It is an attractive option at first sight because of its formative value, assisting students
to understand the science they are studying, and how scientific ideas are developed.
Equally, though, we see significant challenges were it to be used in large-scale
summative assessment – in terms of manageability, and validity of assessment. The
manageability issues are clear, given student numbers, and the ability range.
The extended investigation is not a direct assessment of practical skills although it
may appear so at first sight. Rather it is an indirect assessment, as students’
accounts of the investigation are assessed. Investigations involve the exercise of
practical skills, but as they cover the continuum of designing, experimenting,
evaluating and refining, the range of practical skills involved can be limited, and that
would bring into question the validity of the assessment. Moreover, there are
significant design challenges in developing, delivering and awarding assessment
models that are likely to produce nationwide results that are sufficiently comparable
and reliable.
In response to our A level consultation SCORE and the Council of Science and
Technology proposed that an extended investigation should be an additional
requirement to the direct assessment of practical skills. That’s the case in the highly
respected International Baccalaureate qualification where students’ practical skills
are assessed by questions in exams. In addition, students submit an individual
investigation report, an indirect assessment for which students can use evidence
collected through experimentation or use data from other sources. There is no
reward for the exercise of practical skills, and that is what we are trying to assess in
the new science GCSEs.
Portfolio of practical skills
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 20
Some responses to our A level consultation suggested the use of a portfolio of
evidence to assess the practical skills. This could be a collection of accounts of the
work that has taken place or photographic evidence of practical work being
completed. Both are examples of indirect assessment with all the attendant issues
identified above. On the other hand it could be an expanded record or log book of
practical work. We are proposing that there must be a student record of practical
work completed. How this should be compiled and presented is part of the discussion
about implementation which, as noted at the beginning of this consultation, is a
discussion of details and for another day.
Other considerations
The assessment of practical work in GCSEs through coursework or, more recently,
controlled assessment has ended up narrowing the curriculum. Students do tasks set
by exam boards. Teachers must have prior knowledge of them, to be ready to deliver
them, and they must be manageable and deliverable on a suitably large scale,
nationwide. So the range of likely controlled assessment tasks is narrower than the
curriculum, and fairly predictable. For some specifications, teachers set the tasks
themselves to guidelines from the exam board. That brings similar problems,
because it can lead to a focus on those tasks at a cost to wider work. The science
GCSE findings from our review of controlled assessment last year21 show the
shortcomings of the existing arrangements, much as described above.
There are other drawbacks. Students typically receive higher marks for controlled
assessments marked by their teachers than for the written exams. Controlled
assessment marks also tend to be skewed towards the maximum mark. This is
illustrated in the graph below which combines the 2014 results from all the exam
boards for the GCSE science qualifications. Units assessed by exam are indicated by
for example, ‘Biology 1F’, where ‘F’ and ‘H’ indicate performance in the separate tiers
of assessment, foundation and higher tier. Controlled assessment units are labelled
‘CA’ and, as they are not tiered, indicate performance for all candidates. Individual
graphs showing the 2014 results for each of the GCSE specifications for each of the
sciences from each of the exam boards together with the entry information for each
unit are attached at Appendices 2 and 3 and show a similar picture.
21
Review of Controlled Assessment in GCSEs (June 2013) Ofqual/13/5291; available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/377903/2013-06-11-review-of-controlled-assessment-inGCSEs.pdf .
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 21
The peak or modal mark for controlled assessments (the green line) is much higher
than those for the written exams. So the mark achieved by most students in
controlled assessment was a higher proportion of the total marks available. The
shape of the curves is also rather different. Those for the exams have a fairly normal
distribution, while that for the controlled assessment is shifted towards the upper end
of the mark range. This shows that, on the whole, students achieved higher marks in
the controlled assessments than in the written exams. The distribution curve between
the peak and the maximum mark for the controlled assessment is also steep,
suggesting a significant proportion of students have achieved marks in a fairly
compressed section of the upper end of the mark range.
The controlled assessments, then, do not discriminate effectively between students’
performances, one of the things we are looking for. To some extent the differences
between them and the written exams may reflect differences in what each
assessment is assessing – between the knowledge and understanding of content
generally assessed by exams and the broader practical skills that are the focus of
controlled assessments. However, school accountability is likely to have had a
significant effect here.
The Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have noted previously that “a
system relying mainly on teacher assessment has pragmatic and political
implications difficult to resolve in the short term”. We agree.
Teachers are put in a difficult position when their assessments are used to judge their
performance and that of their school and students. It can also create unfairness
between schools, because of different interpretations of the amount of assistance
teachers can provide to students, different degrees to which teaching focuses on
specific assessments and different marking expectations being applied to students’
work. Arrangements whereby teachers mark other students’ work, rather than their
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 22
own, could modify these effects. However, they would not deal with the narrowing of
the curriculum.
Options
Each approach has its benefits and drawbacks, with no one perfect solution.
To sum up, there are numerous direct assessment permutations. Students’ practical
science work could be assessed by teachers, or visiting examiners, and could be
monitored and moderated in different ways. Results could be included in subject
grades or reported separately.
In terms of indirect assessment, using questions in exams has substantial support
from stakeholders. It is an approach used currently both in England and
internationally. We favour it because it would encourage the teaching of a wide and
varied range of practical work, it is manageable for schools and students, and done
well it is likely to produce valid and reliable results. It is a strong option.
Students’ practical skills could be assessed indirectly by a practical exam, with
inferences about practical skills being made on the basis of how students record their
work. Alternatively they could be assessed by an extended investigation, or a
portfolio approach, where similar inferences would be made.
3. Our proposals
There is no single approach that is strongest in all respects – promoting a wide range
of practical work; being manageable for schools; ensuring valid and reliable
assessments; and withstanding accountability pressures. Our preferred option best
squares, though not perfectly, these competing tensions and puts the curriculum
aims first.
Questions in the written exams will draw on students’ knowledge and understanding
of a common, specified range of practical equipment and techniques and will count
for at least 15 per cent of the overall marks. We have seen good examples of such
questions in other qualifications here, in other countries, and in the sample
assessment materials produced by exam boards for new science A levels.
Exam boards will write these questions with the expectation that students have
completed the specified practical work. And although the specific practical activities
required by the exam boards would have to be completed, there would be no limit to
the number of activities a school could make available to their students. This
flexibility would enable schools to offer their students wide and varied experience of
practical work.
Schools will be required to confirm to their exam boards that their students have
completed the required practical work prior to the exams. Students each keep a
record of their practical work, to be made available to their exam board on request.
This student record could be a laboratory notebook, a formal written account to a
given template, a portfolio or take some other physical or virtual form (we welcome
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 23
views and suggestions). It will provide further, more detailed, information about the
practical work completed, as well as helping prepare students for further study.
We think these arrangements will be manageable for schools and students. They are
realistic. Teachers’ time will not be diverted from teaching to assessing (beyond the
formative assessment that characterises all good teaching, and confirming the school
record) because the practical work will be an integral part of the course of study.
Students will experience practical work as part of a coherent whole rather than as a
one-off, high-stake assessment. Above all we think these arrangements are more
likely than others to provide a stimulating and enjoyable practical work experience for
students, best suited to the curriculum aims.
The detail of our proposal is as follows:
Exam boards will be required to include questions in the written exams that
draw on the knowledge and understanding students have gained from their
practical science experience. These questions will have to account for at least
15 per cent of the marks for each qualification.
A list of the apparatus and techniques that students must be able to use and
demonstrate will be included in each specification. These lists will be common
across the exam boards and are provided below.
Exam boards will be required to include in their specification for each subject at
least eight practical activities (16 for combined science) that students will be
expected to complete during their course of study. This requirement balances
promoting a wide range of activities while ensuring manageability for schools
and mitigating predictability when the written exams target the activities. It also
emphasises how the subject should be taught and is in line with the approach
for reformed A level science subjects. The practical activities the exam boards
include will have to reflect the common lists of apparatus and techniques.
Schools will be required to confirm to their exam board that their students have
completed the required practical science work – the school record. Schools will
have to do this before their students take their exams.
Students will be required to keep records of the practical work they have done –
the student record. This will have to be made available to their exam board on
request.
The draft assessment objectives for science GCSEs will be amended to reflect
the revised assessment arrangements.
Assessment objectives
The assessment objectives we propose make clear the abilities that will be the focus
of the exams. They emphasise that practical work and theoretical understanding are
both integral to science qualifications. Their requirements are also consistent with
those for the reformed A level science subjects.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 24
Assessment objectives Weighting
AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
scientific ideas and processes
scientific techniques and procedures
35%
AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding of:
scientific ideas and processes
scientific techniques and procedures
40%
AO3 Analyse, interpret and evaluate scientific ideas, information and
evidence to make judgements and reach conclusions
25%
Learners’ knowledge and understanding of practical activities must be tested across the
assessment objectives. The total mark used to credit the demonstration of such
knowledge and understanding must be no less than15 per cent of the sum of all marks for
the assessment objectives AO1 to AO3.
Learners’ ability to use mathematical skills at a level appropriate for GCSE science
subjects must be tested across the assessment objectives. The total mark used to credit
the demonstration of mathematical skills must be no less than 15 per cent of the sum of all
marks for the assessment objectives AO1 to AO3.
Learners’ ability in terms of the requirements for Working Scientifically must be tested
across the assessment objectives.
Learners’ knowledge and understanding of practical and theoretical contexts must be
tested across the assessment objectives.
Learners’ ability to organise and communicate information and ideas coherently must be
tested across the assessment objectives.
We have previously consulted22 on our proposal that new science GCSEs will be
tiered, reflecting current practice. We propose that the weightings outlined above for
the assessment objectives for science GCSEs should be the same at each tier. Our
proposals are based on those for mathematics, where the foundation tier is designed
for Learners likely to achieve grades 1 to 5 and the higher tier for Learners likely to
achieve grades 4 to 9.
Use of apparatus and techniques
The proposed requirements in relation to apparatus and techniques30 have been
drawn from proposals produced by the Gatsby Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.31
They are designed to promote progression to the equivalent requirements for the A
level science subjects.32
Biology
22
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20141110161323/http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2013-06-
11gcse-reform-consultation-june-2013.pdf
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 25
Specifications for biology and the biology elements of combined science must give
students opportunities to use relevant apparatus to develop and demonstrate the
techniques listed below.
Practical techniques to be demonstrated by Learners:
use of appropriate apparatus to make and record a range of measurements (to
include mass, time, temperature, volume of gas produced, distribution of
organisms);
use of a Bunsen burner and a water bath or electric heater for heating;
measurement of pH and oxygen levels using a variety of techniques such as
indicators, a pH/oxygen meter or a pH/oxygen probe and data logger;
use of qualitative reagents to identify biological molecules;
measurement of rates of reaction by a variety of methods such as production of
gas, loss of mass, uptake of water, colour change of indicator;
choice and use of appropriate laboratory and field apparatus for a variety of
experimental investigations;
30 This proposed list of apparatus and techniques has been compiled by the DfE and reflects the
content requirements for these subjects.
31
Policy Note: Assessment of Practical Work in Science April 2013, op. cit.
32
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371197/2014-04-09-gce-
subjectlevel-conditions-and-requirements-for-biology.pdf
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371201/2014-04-09-gce-
subjectlevel-conditions-and-requirements-for-chemistry.pdf
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371203/2014-04-09-gce-
subjectlevel-conditions-and-requirements-for-physics.pdf use of sampling techniques in fieldwork to investigate the distribution and
abundance of organisms in an ecosystem;
safe and ethical use of living organisms to measure physiological functions and
responses to the environment;
use of the light microscope at low and medium power;
production of labelled scientific drawings from direct observation of biological
specimens.
Chemistry
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 26
Specifications for chemistry and the chemistry elements of combined science must
give students opportunities to use relevant apparatus to develop and demonstrate
the techniques listed below.
Practical techniques to be demonstrated by Learners:
use of appropriate apparatus to record a range of measurements (to include
mass, time, volume of liquids and gases, and temperature);
use of a Bunsen burner and a water bath or electric heater for heating;
measurement of pH using pH charts and digitally;
collection and identification of products of reaction and measurement of rates of
production;
safe and careful handling of gases, liquids and solids;
careful mixing of reagents under controlled conditions using appropriate
apparatus to prepare substances;
use of a range of equipment to separate chemical mixtures: to include
evaporation, filtration, distillation, crystallisation, chromatography, electrolysis;
collection and analysis of products from a simple electrochemical cell;
use of appropriate apparatus to determine relative concentrations of strong
acids and strong alkalis.
Physics
Specifications for physics and the physics elements of combined science must give
students opportunities to use relevant apparatus to develop and demonstrate the
techniques listed below.
Practical techniques to be demonstrated by Learners:
use of thermometers and electrical measuring instruments, with heating and
cooling devices, to explore energy transfers as temperatures change and to
explore phase changes;
use of measures of weight and direct and displacement methods for measuring
volumes to determine densities of solid and liquid objects;
use of instruments to measure distances and times: to determine speeds and
accelerations both in laboratories (for example, motion of a mass down a slope,
or of a mass projected by a compressed spring) and in everyday motions (for
example, walking, running and cycling); to explore transmission and reflection
of sound waves;
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 27
measure speeds of both sound and of waves on water, and the wavelengths
and frequencies of waves on water;
use of low-voltage power supplies, ammeters and voltmeters to explore the
characteristics of a variety of circuit elements;
construction of both series and parallel circuits from circuit diagrams using DC
power supplies, cells and a range of circuit components, including those where
polarity is important; representation of the circuits used with conventional
symbols;
connection, or checking, of the three wires for an AC mains plug and checking
of the way these wires are connected to a domestic device;
safe and careful handling of electrical power supplies, experiments involving
accelerated and uniform movement of objects, and effects of steady or
oscillating light sources;
use of springs and strings with weights to explore linear, non-linear, elastic and
inelastic stretching;
use of iron filings and magnetic compass to explore fields of magnets and of
electric wires and solenoids.
Combined science
Specifications for combined science must give students opportunities to use relevant
apparatus to develop and demonstrate the use of apparatus and techniques for all
the separate sciences (biology, chemistry and physics). However there should be no
requirement for the same technique to be exercised in all three of the disciplines.
4. Equality analysis
We are subject to the public sector equality duty. We have set out in Appendix 1 how
this duty interacts with our statutory objectives and other duties.
We have considered the potential impact on students who share protected
characteristics23 of our preferred approach and the alternative options for assessing
practical work in science GCSEs.
We have not identified that any of the options would have an impact, positive or
negative, on students because of their age, racial group, their religion or belief, their
sex or their sexual orientation.
Arrangements will have to be made for students who are absent when the practical
activities take place to do them at another time. Such absence may occur because of
a disability, pregnancy and maternity or gender reassignment. However, exams may 23
Disability, racial group, age, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity, sex, sexual orientation,
gender reassignment.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 28
also be missed for the same reasons. As the practical activities are not, in
themselves, assessed it may be more straightforward for schools and colleges to
reschedule any missed opportunities.
Some disabled students will not be able to use scientific equipment owing to the
nature of their disability. If students’ abilities to use scientific equipment were to be
directly assessed, rather than (as now) their ability to write about practical methods,
some disabled students would not be able to access the assessment. Currently some
disabled students use a practical assistant to support their learning and they
complete their controlled assessment by using a practical assistant. As students’
practical skills are not being directly assessed, this can be permissible as a
reasonable adjustment.
If the outcome of an assessment of students’ ability to use scientific equipment
contributed to one overall grade for the qualification, disabled students unable to
access the assessment could be disadvantaged. They could be granted an
exemption from the practical assessment, assuming that this assessment did not
contribute more than 40 per cent of the marks for the qualification, in which case their
performance in the written exams would be ‘scaled up’. However, they would have
lost an opportunity available to other students to perform well in the practical
assessment, and to have that performance reflected in their overall grade. The fact
that a student has been granted an exemption is currently reported on the student’s
certificate.
If the practical assessment outcome was reported separately, disabled students
exempted from the practical assessment would have their exam grade reported on
their certificate, together with an indication of the exemption from the practical
assessment. They would still have to answer written exam questions drawing on their
experience of practical work, whether done directly or with the help of a practical
assistant.
Our preferred option, whereby students would not be directly assessed on the use of
scientific equipment, would allow disabled students to access all of the assessments,
so they would not need to be granted an exemption. They would have to undertake
practically based learning, however, or they would be disadvantaged when
answering written questions designed to draw on such learning. As at present, they
could work with a practical assistant.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 29
5. Responding to the consultation
Your details
To evaluate responses properly, we need to know who is responding to the
consultation and in what capacity. We will therefore only consider your response if
you complete the following information section.
We will publish our evaluation of responses. Please note that we may publish all or
part of your response unless you tell us (in your answer to the confidentiality
question) that you want us to treat your response as confidential. If you tell us you
wish your response to be treated as confidential, we will not include your details in
any published list of respondents, although we may quote from your response
anonymously.
Please answer all questions marked with a star*
Name*
Ginny Page
Position*
Science and Engineering Education team
Organisation name (if applicable)*
Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Address
5 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1AP
Telephone
020 7410 7127
Would you like us to treat your response as confidential?*
If you answer yes, we will not include your details in any list of people or
organisations that responded to the consultation.
( ) Yes (x) No
Is this a personal response or an official response on behalf of your
organisation?*
( ) Personal response (Please answer the question ‘If you ticked ‘personal views’…’)
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 30
( x) Official response (Please answer the question ‘Type of responding organisation’)
If you ticked ‘Personal views’ which of the following are you?
( ) Student
( ) Parent or carer
( ) Teacher (but responding in a personal capacity)
( ) Other, including general public (Please state below)
___________________________________
If you ticked “Official response from an organisation/group”, please respond
accordingly:
Type of responding organisation*
( ) Awarding organisation
( ) Local authority
( ) School or college (please answer the question below)
( ) Academy chain
( ) Private training provider
( ) University or other higher education institution
( ) Employer
(x ) Other representative or interest group (please answer the question below)
School or college type
( ) Comprehensive or non-selective academy
( ) State selective or selective academy
( ) Independent
( ) Special school
( ) Further education college
( ) Sixth form college
( ) Other (please state below)
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 31
___________________________________
Type of representative group or interest group
( ) Group of awarding organisations
( ) Union
( ) Employer or business representative group
( ) Subject association or learned society
( ) Equality organisation or group
( ) School, college or teacher representative group
(x ) Other (please state below)
Charitable foundation working to support science and engineering education.
Nation*
( x) England
(x ) Wales
(x ) Northern Ireland
( x) Scotland
( ) Other EU country: _____________________
( ) Non-EU country: ______________________
How did you find out about this consultation?
(x ) Our newsletter or another one of our communications
( ) Our website
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( ) Other
___________________________________
May we contact you for further information?
(x ) Yes ( ) No
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 32
Questions
Question 1: In relation to our proposed model (page 5 and pages 23 to 29 of the
consultation) how far do you agree with each of the following statements?
Please give reasons for your answers.
1a: GCSE science students will be given appropriate opportunities to complete
a range of practical work if exam questions reward those who can draw on
their practical experiences.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
() Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
This will depend on:
whether exam questions can indeed distinguish those who have undertaken
the practical work from those who have not;
the extent to which higher marks are accessed according to the level of skill
the student gained in that practical work;
whether all teachers are equally convinced that there is no alternative teaching
method other than undertaking the practical work;
whether in any single exam series it is possible to assess the full range of
practical skills developed during the preceding years of learning.
If these conditions are not fulfilled, and the exam questions do not properly assess
the range of practical work, then there is a significant risk that some schools will
reduce their funding for practical science and fewer practical experiences will be on
offer.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 33
1b: At least 15 per cent of the marks in science GCSE exams should be
allocated to questions drawing on students’ practical science experiences.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
The current weighting given to assessment based on students’ practical experiences
in science GCSEs is at least 25%. By reducing this to 15% Ofqual is giving a clear
and strong message that practical work will be less important in the new GCSEs than
in the current ones, and introduces the possibility that students could achieve a high
grade (in the remaining 85%) without doing any practical work at all. This is counter
to what scientists, DfE, Awarding Bodies and Ofqual themselves have said about
their priorities for practical science. Indeed when Ofqual consulted on GCSE science
assessment in 2013, most respondents who expressed a view suggested the %
allocated to science practicals “should be between 20-30%”24. We therefore
recommend that the current weighting of 25% is retained as a minimum.
1c: Science GCSE students will be more likely to be given opportunities to
undertake a wide and varied range of practical work if such work is focused on
teaching and learning and is not itself assessed.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
(x) Disagree
24
Ofqual GCSE Reform Consultation Analysis, November 2013.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 34
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
We have seen no good evidence to answer this question either way, but what we do
know from our research undertaken with teachers in 2012 is that 40% of those who
had increased their practical work over the preceding 5 years did so because of
changes in assessment25. Our concern is that for as many teachers who are able to
do more and better practicals if the skills involved are not assessed, there are others
less confident or less well-resourced for whom it may become a struggle to maintain
the staffing and budget needed for good quality practical work if a link to assessment
is not clear to senior management. We trust that this consultation will elicit the views
of a wide range of teachers and not just those who already have the wherewithal to
offer their students rich practical experiences.
We also point out that while ideally assessment does facilitate better teaching and
learning, it must also give evidence as to skills gained. Practical skills should be
assessed at GCSE is to show that students can work safely and accurately when
conducting practical work. Students must be able to undertake core practical work
competently, as well as have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and ideas
through a wide range of practical experiences.
1d: Science GCSE students will be more likely to be given opportunities to
complete the practical work included in an exam specification if schools are
required to confirm this in writing to their exam board.
( ) Strongly agree
( x) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
25
http://www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Practical%20work%20research%20summary%202%20Teacher%20views%20of%20practical%20work%20181012.ashx
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 35
( ) Disagree
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
It somewhat more likely, but this will only be true across all schools if there is a
system in place to check that the confirmation is valid, and that there are
repercussions if the exam board does not receive such confirmation.
1e: Science GCSE students will be more likely to be given opportunities to
undertake a wide and varied range of practical work if they are required to keep
a record of such work (a student record).
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
(x ) Disagree
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
While keeping records of lab work can be valuable for many reasons (it is a skill in
itself, it enables teacher-student discussion about practical work, it is revision
material for the student) it only works as an incentive for teachers to offer a wide and
varied range of practical work if the requirement is checked and there are
repercussions if it is missing. There is also the possibility that using student records
for monitoring/moderation purposes may undermine the other benefits such record-
keeping can bring, and focus teaching time on producing high-quality records rather
than doing practical work. The student record (coupled with the teacher record) must
also indicate where students lack competence, otherwise it cannot report a ‘fail’
1f: It would be unmanageable, in terms of time and cost, for teachers to assess
directly each of their science GCSE students manipulating a range of
equipment and conducting a range of experiments to confirm their competency
in practical skills.
( ) Strongly agree
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 36
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
() Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
In response to the previous Ofqual consultation on GCSE science assessment we
reported our preliminary work among teachers who indicated that direct assessment
of a carousel of tasks performed under exam conditions could be manageable. This
would be a significant change from the current focus on assessing whole
investigations. The current consultation makes many claims about what is not
manageable in schools but the given evidence behind these claims is weak. It would
be particularly helpful to make this evidence public given that in response to the
previous 2013 consultation Ofqual received a positive response regarding the 10%
direct assessment of practical skills and the need for alternatives to written exams.
1g: The revised assessment objectives for science GCSEs are appropriate.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
We are disappointed that AO4 with its 10% direct assessment of practical skills has
been removed since the last consultation, meaning that the following set of important
skills will no longer being assessed:
The ability to:
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 37
y
These skills are relevant for all young people, but are particularly important for the
many who are going to progress into a range of scientific and technical jobs and
further study. There is nothing in these proposals to prevent a GCSE science student
who consistently breaks equipment, is always inaccurate in their measurements and
cannot maintain a safe laboratory environment for themselves and others, from
receiving the highest grade in their exams. We consider this to be unacceptable.
1h: The weightings proposed for the revised assessment objectives for science
GCSEs are appropriate.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
() Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
…See above.
1i:The weightings proposed for the assessment objectives for science GCSEs
should be the same at each tier.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( x) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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1j: The proposal that no less than 15 per cent of the total marks available in a
science GCSE must be used to credit the demonstration of mathematical skills
is appropriate.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
(x ) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
No evidence is provided to justify this weighting. We only note that data analysis
might also be considered a practical skill, in which case there is the potential for a
lack of clarity about the weightings associated with practical and mathematical skills.
1k: The proposal that no less than 15 per cent of the total marks available in a
science GCSE must be used to credit the demonstration of mathematical skills
should apply to each of the science GCSE subjects.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
(x ) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
( ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
1l: The lists of apparatus and techniques that all students taking science
GCSEs will be expected to be able to use are appropriate.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
() Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 39
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
In our response to the DfE consultation on GCSE science in August 2013 we gave
our recommendations as to the practical skills we believe appropriate for GCSE
sciences26, and additional recommendations were given in our policy note on
assessment of practical work in science in April 201327. We would like to clarify that
we did not dictate apparatus in either of these documents, instead we suggested the
sorts of experiments (and hence the range of equipment) through which students
might gain the recommended skills. This was intended to give Exam Boards and
teachers the flexibility to choose a range of practicals in order to achieve their
learning outcomes. The list of apparatus being proposed by Ofqual should be
subjected to significant professional scrutiny before being confirmed, and the
intended activities and learning outcomes from their use made clear.
1m: The proposal that exam boards must require each student taking science
GCSEs to undertake at least eight practical activities (16 for combined science)
is appropriate.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
( ) Disagree
( x) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
Ofqual’s rationale behind the choice of 8 (or 16) is not given. We would only note that
if schools choose to deliver GCSE science over 3 years that could equate to only 5-6
practicals per year. In specifying practical activities (as opposed to practical skills)
26
http://www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/GCSE%20Science%20Content%20Reform%20Response.ashx 27
http://www.gatsby.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Practical%20Science%20Policy%20Note.ashx
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 40
Ofqual and the Awarding Bodies must take care to ensure a spread of activities
across the full range of GCSE content.
Question 2
Do you have any views about what form the student record should take and the
types of information it should contain? If ‘yes’, please give suggestions below.
( ) Yes
( x) No
Suggestions
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Question 3
We are looking for the approach to the assessment of students’ practical
science experience that can achieve the best balance between the aims of:
delivering the curriculum aims and encourage a wide range of practical science
teaching over the period of study
being manageable for schools – taking into account the numbers of students
who take science GCSEs, the range of ability and the time typically allocated to
each subject
providing valid and reliable assessments – test the right things and do this
accurately and consistently, so as to differentiate effectively between students’
performance
being able to withstand accountability pressures, that is, to avoid exerting
unmanageable contradictions on teachers where they are acting as the
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 41
assessor and being judged themselves through the outcomes of the
assessments they make – the results of their students.
How far do you agree that our proposed model (page 5 and pages 23 to 29 of
the consultation) provides the best balance between these aims? Please give
reasons for your answers.
( ) Strongly agree
( ) Agree
( ) Neither agree nor disagree
() Disagree
(x ) Strongly disagree
Please give reasons for your answer
We consider that the main aim for Ofqual should be providing valid and reliable
assessments for the full range of important content in GCSE science, including
practical skills. We do not agree that the proposed model fulfils this aim. We
acknowledge the perverse pressure of accountability and the need for manageability,
but we do not feel sufficient time and efforts have been taken to research alternatives
to the proposed model.
Question 4
Do you believe that there is an alternative option that can provide a better
balance between these aims?
(x ) Yes
( ) No
Question 5
If you responded ‘yes’ to question 4, which of the options below do you believe
provides a better balance between these aims when used in addition to some
science GCSE exam questions drawing on students’ practical science
experience? Please give reasons for your answer.
[ x] Option (i) science GCSE students’ practical skills are directly assessed and
marked and that mark contributes to the overall grade.
The practical skills are assessed by:
( ) teachers observing students during the course
(x ) a practical exam testing students’ technical and manipulative skills
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
Ofqual 2014 42
( ) an extended investigation including direct assessment of practical skills
( ) a portfolio of experiments, detailing methodologies, results and conclusions and
including direct assessment of practical skills.
[ ] Option (ii) science GCSE students’ practical skills are assessed on a pass/fail
basis related to competency with that outcome reported alongside the grade
derived from their performance in the exams.
[ ] A different option that has not been covered in our consultation (please give full
details of your proposed option).
We recommend a terminal practical exam for the assessment of technical and
manipulative skills across science GCSEs.
The examination would comprise a series of short experimental tasks, each focussed
on a specific practical skill. It would be set up as a carousel of stations, performed
under exam conditions, with individuals moving between stations after a set period of
time. Groups of candidates would take the examination sequentially; stations would
be refreshed and tasks changed between groups.
The examination could take place over several days using a number of different
tasks, drawn from a bank provided by the exam boards to prevent candidates from
sharing the contents. The examination would be independently invigilated, perhaps
by a teacher from a neighbouring cluster school. Tasks could have simple and
advanced versions, providing differentiation. Evidence of performance would
combine results recorded by the student and witness statements from the teacher.
Written or photographic evidence could be taken and samples sent for moderation by
the exam board. The examinations would be monitored by the exam board through
visits to schools, with serious consequences where malpractice is discovered.
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We outlined this model in our response to Ofqual’s 2013 consultation on GCSE
reform and indicated our willingness to work with Ofqual and the exam boards to
further develop the model.
Question 6
We have identified some ways in which our proposals for science GCSEs
would impact (positively or negatively) on persons who share a protected
characteristic. Are there any potential impacts we have not identified? If so,
what are they?
( ) Yes
( ) No
If yes, please provide them here:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Question 7
Are there any additional steps we could take to mitigate any negative impact
from resulting from these proposals on persons who share a protected
characteristic? If so, please comment on the additional steps we could take to
mitigate negative impacts.
( ) Yes
( ) No
If yes, please provide them here:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
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…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Question 8
Have you any other comments on the impacts of the proposals on persons
who share a protected characteristic?
(x ) Yes
( ) No
If yes, please provide them here:
Ofqual make clear that systems are already in place to ensure that disabled students
are not unfairly disadvantaged by requirements to undertake practical science at
GCSE level. In addition, we note that even if practical skills are not directly assessed,
these systems will need to continue under these proposals as Ofqual state that
practical work will need to be done in order to answer the exam questions. It is not
clear why Ofqual feel these systems will not be sufficient for any of the alternative
models proposed, particularly as they must be robust enough to be implemented in
other practical subjects.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Accessibility of our consultations
We are looking at how we provide accessible versions of our consultations and would
appreciate it if you could spare a few moments to answer the following questions.
Your answers to these questions will not be considered as part of the consultation
and will not be released to any third-parties.
We want to write clearly, directly and put the reader first. Overall, do you think
we have got this right in this consultation?
( ) Yes () No
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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Do you have any comments or suggestions about the style of writing?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Do you have any special requirements to enable you to read our
consultations? (For example screen reader, large text, and so on)*
( ) Yes ( ) No
Which of the following do you currently use to access our consultation
documents? (Select all that apply)*
( ) Screen reader / text-to-speech software
( ) Braille reader
( ) Screen magnifier
( ) Speech to text software
( ) Motor assistance (blow-suck tube, mouth stick, etc.)
( ) Other:
Which of the following document formats would meet your needs for accessing
our consultations? (Select all that apply)*
( ) A standard PDF
( ) Accessible web pages
( ) Large type PDF (16 point text)
( ) Large-type word document (16 point text)
( ) eBook (Kindle, iBooks or similar format)
( ) Braille document (
) Spoken document
( ) Other:
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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How many of our consultations have you read in the last 12 months?*
( ) 1
( ) 2
( ) 3
( ) 4
( ) 5
( ) More than 5
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
47
Appendix 1: Ofqual’s role, objectives and duties
Our statutory objectives include the qualifications standards objective, which is to
secure that the qualifications we regulate:
(a) give a reliable indication of knowledge, skills and understanding; and
(b) indicate
i. a consistent level of attainment (including over time) between
comparable regulated qualifications; and
ii. a consistent level of attainment (but not over time) between
qualifications we regulate and comparable qualifications (including
those awarded outside of the UK) which we do not regulate.
We must therefore regulate so that qualifications properly differentiate between
students who have demonstrated they have the knowledge, skills and understanding
required to attain the qualification and those who have not.
We also have duties under the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act
2009 to have regard to the reasonable requirements of relevant students, including
those with special educational needs and disabilities, of employers and of the higher
education sector, and to aspects of government policy when so directed by the
Secretary of State.
As a public body we are subject to the public sector equality duty (PSED). This duty
requires us to have due regard to the need to:
(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct
which is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010;
(b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant
protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
(c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected
characteristic and persons who do not share it.
The exam boards that design, deliver and award GCSE, A level and AS qualifications
are required by the Equality Act, among other things, to make reasonable
adjustments for disabled people taking their qualifications, except where we have
specified that such adjustments should not be made.
When we decide whether such adjustments should not be made, we must have
regard to:
Ofqual 2014
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(a) the need to minimise the extent to which disabled persons are disadvantaged
in attaining the qualification because of their disabilities;
(b) the need to secure that the qualification gives a reliable indication of the
knowledge, skills and understanding of a person upon whom it is conferred;
(c) the need to maintain public confidence in the qualification.
Legislation therefore sets out a framework within which we must operate. We are
subject to a number of duties and we must aim to achieve a number of objectives.
These different duties and objectives can, from time to time, conflict with each other.
For example, if we regulate to secure that a qualification gives a reliable indication of
a student’s knowledge, skills and understanding, a student who has not been able to
demonstrate the required knowledge, skills and/or understanding will not be awarded
the qualification. A person may find it more difficult, or impossible, to demonstrate the
required knowledge, skills and/or understanding because they have a protected
characteristic. This could put them at a disadvantage relative to others who have
been awarded the qualification. It is not always possible for us to regulate so that we
can both secure that qualifications give a reliable indication of knowledge, skills and
understanding and advance equality between people who share a protected
characteristic and those who do not. We must review all the available evidence and
actively consider all the available options before coming to a final, rational decision.
Qualifications cannot be used to mitigate inequalities or unfairness in the education
system or in society more widely that might affect, for example, students’
preparedness to take the qualification and the assessments within it. Whilst a wide
range of factors can have an impact on a student’s ability to achieve a particular
mark in an assessment, our influence is limited to the way the qualification is
designed and assessed.
We require the exam boards to design qualifications to give a reliable indication of
the knowledge, skills and understanding of those on whom they are conferred. We
also require the exam boards to avoid, where possible, features of a qualification that
could, without justification, make a qualification more difficult for a student to achieve
because they have a particular protected characteristic. We require exam boards to
monitor whether any features of their qualifications have this effect.
In setting the overall framework within which exam boards will design, assess and
award the reformed A level and AS qualifications we want to understand the possible
impacts of the proposals on persons who share a protected characteristic.
The protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are:
age;
disability;
Ofqual 2014
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49
gender reassignment;
marriage and civil partnerships;
pregnancy and maternity;
race;
religion or belief;
sex;
sexual orientation.
It should be noted that under section 149 of the 2010 Act, we are not required to
have due regard to impacts on those who are married or in a civil partnership.
Consultation on the Assessment of Practical Work in GCSE Science
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Appendix 2: GCSE Science, Additional Science and
Single Sciences mark distributions s2014
The graphs below show the distribution of raw marks for the units that make up the
current GCSE science, additional science, further additional science, biology,
chemistry and physics qualifications for AQA, OCR, Pearson and WJEC.28
Units assessed by exam are indicated by, for example, ‘Unit 1F’ or by ‘Biology 1F’,
where ‘F’ and ‘H’ indicate performance in the separate tiers of assessment, which are
foundation and higher tier. Controlled assessment units are labelled ‘CA’ and, as they
are not tiered, indicate performance for all candidates.
Since the different units have different maximum marks, each mark distribution is
shown as a percentage of the total mark for that unit. After scaling them in this way,
each unit had a different number of mark points, so ten groups of marks were created
for each unit to allow a better comparison between them. For each unit, these ten
data points were linked by a dashed line to show the overall distribution of the data.
Science
28
Only data for English candidates is shown for WJEC.
Ofqual 2014
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51
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Additional Science
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35 Note that owing to the low entry numbers for WJEC sciences in England, confidence intervals are wider
for this data than for other qualifications.
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Further additional science
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Biology
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Chemistry
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Physics
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Appendix 3: Entry information for GCSE sciences
2014
Science
Unit Number of entries
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AQA GCSE Science A Route 1
Biology 1F 79850
Biology 1H 92000
CA 165750
Chemistry 1F 81900
Chemistry 1H 89900
Physics 1F 81100
Physics 1H 90750
AQA GCSE Science A Route 2
Unit 1F 9400
Unit 1H 12250
CA 20900
Unit 2F 9350
Unit 2H 12250
OCR GCSE Science A
Biology 1F 15100
Biology 1H 32700
CA 44900
Chemistry 1F 15100
Chemistry 1H 32700
Physics 1F 15150
Physics 1H 32550
OCR GCSE Science B
Unit 1F 17800
Unit 1H 30100
CA 45050
Unit 2F 17700
Unit 2H 30000
Pearson GCSE Science
Biology 1F 31800
Biology 1H 28200
CA 56200
Chemistry 1F 31800
Chemistry 1H 28250
Physics 1F 32050
Physics 1H 27800
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WJEC GCSE Science A (English candidates)
Biology 1F 400
Biology 1H 200
CA 600
Chemistry 1F 400
Chemistry 1H 200
Physics 1F 400
Physics 1H 200
Additional Science
Unit Number of entries
AQA GCSE Additional Science Route 1
Biology 2F 50900
Biology 2H 92350
CA 143050
Chemistry 2F 53750
Chemistry 2H 89500
Physics 2F 52500
Physics 2H 90700
AQA GCSE Additional Science Route 2
Unit 1F 4350
Unit 1H 9400
CA 13750
Unit 2F 4350
Unit 2H 9400
OCR GCSE Additional Science A
Biology 2F 7750
Biology 2H 29050
CA 35500
Chemistry 2F 7900
Chemistry 2H 28900
Physics 2F 7900
Physics 2H 28850
OCR GCSE Additional Science B
Unit 1F 8950
Unit 1H 27500
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CA 36500
Unit 2F 8950
Unit 2H 27450
Pearson GCSE Additional Science
Biology 2F 19700
Biology 2H 27950
CA 47550
Chemistry 2F 19850
Chemistry 2H 27800
Physics 2F 19700
Physics 2H 27900
WJEC GCSE Additional Science (English candi dates)
Biology 2F 200
Biology 2H 150
CA 350
Chemistry 2F 200
Chemistry 2H 150
Physics 2F 200
Physics 2H 150
Further additional science
Unit Number of entries
AQA GCSE Further Additional Science
Unit 1F 750
Unit 1H 12800
CA 13600
Unit 2F 850
Unit 2H 12750
Unit 3F 800
Unit 3H 12800
OCR GCSE Further Additional Science A
Biology 3F 029
Biology 3H 850
CA 850
Chemistry 3F 0~
29
Indicates less than 25 entries
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Chemistry 3H 850
Physics 3F 0~
Physics 3H 850
OCR GCSE Further Additional Science B
Unit 1F 50
Unit 1H 900
CA 950
Unit 2F 50
Unit 2H 900
Pearson GCSE Further Additional Science
Biology 3F 700
Biology 3H 5150
CA 5850
Chemistry 3F 750
Chemistry 3H 5100
Physics 3F 750
Physics 3H 5100
Biology
Unit Number of entries
AQA GCSE Biology
Unit 1F 4050
Unit 1H 71550
CA 75350
Unit 2F 4350
Unit 2H 71250
Unit 3F 4850
Unit 3H 70600
OCR GCSE Biology A
Unit 1F 600
Unit 1H 22350
CA 22800
Unit 2F 600
Unit 2H 22300
Unit 3F 650
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Unit 3H 22250
OCR GCSE Biology B
Unit 1F 700
Unit 1H 21650
CA 22250
Unit 2F 750
Unit 2H 21600
Pearson GCSE Biology
Unit 1F 1000
Unit 1H 10350
CA 11050
Unit 2F 1150
Unit 2H 10050
Unit 3F 1300
Unit 3H 9850
WJEC GCSE Biology (English candidates)
Unit 1F 50
Unit 1H 400
CA 450
Unit 2F 50
Unit 2H 350
Unit 3F 50
Unit 3H 400
Chemistry
Unit Number of entries
AQA GCSE Chemistry
Unit 1F 3200
Unit 1H 69500
CA 72550
Unit 2F 3650
Unit 2H 69050
Unit 3F 4250
Unit 3H 68450
OCR GCSE Chemistry A
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Unit 1F 500
Unit 1H 22850
CA 23350
Unit 2F 500
Unit 2H 22800
Unit 3F 600
Unit 3H 22250
OCR GCSE Chemistry B
Unit 1F 600
Unit 1H 21400
CA 22000
Unit 2F 650
Unit 2H 21350
Pearson GCSE Chemistry
Unit 1F 850
Unit 1H 10350
CA 10950
Unit 2F 950
Unit 2H 10100
Unit 3F 1350
Unit 3H 9650
WJEC GCSE Chemistry (English Candidates)
Unit 1F 50
Unit 1H 350
CA 400
Unit 2F 50
Unit 2H 350
Unit 3F 50
Unit 3H 350
Physics
Unit Number of entries
AQA GCSE Physics
Unit 1F 2750
Unit 1H 69050
CA 71800
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Unit 2F 3150
Unit 2H 68700
Unit 3F 3600
Unit 3H 68250
OCR GCSE Physics A
Unit 1F 500
Unit 1H 22450
CA 23000
Unit 2F 550
Unit 2H 22400
Unit 3F 600
Unit 3H 22350
OCR GCSE Physics B
Unit 1F 550
Unit 1H 21850
CA 22400
Unit 2F 600
Unit 2H 21800
Pearson GCSE Physics
Unit 1F 800
Unit 1H 10600
CA 11200
Unit 2F 900
Unit 2H 10350
Unit 3F 1300
Unit 3H 9950
WJEC GCSE Physics (English candidates)
Unit 1F 50
Unit 1H 350
CA 400
Unit 2F 50
Unit 2H 350
Unit 3F 50
Unit 3H 350
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